Today I read a disturbing account of how a software developer became the target of Chinese hackers after he sued China for pirating his software. The hackers nearly destroyed the man’s business:
An independent analysis later found that four of the five active filters were copied almost verbatim from CYBERsitter and that Green Dam could not operate correctly when those filters were disabled. It’s possible the code was stolen in an earlier hack, but Milburn believes the thieves simply bought a copy and broke the encryption protecting the code.
In interviews with reporters, he said he was considering a lawsuit and vowed to pursue an injunction.
On June 24 — 12 days after Milburn went public with his legal intentions — the hackers made their first appearance. Working from her home office 150 miles south of Santa Barbara in Orange County, Jenna DiPasquale, 39, who is Milburn’s daughter and Solid Oak’s one-woman marketing department, received a carefully forged e-mail containing hidden spyware.